Evenings at the Ichiraku Ramen
by Quinquereme
Summary: It was either pure coincidence, or Shizune had been stalking him. Complete.
1. A Thing

**Evenings at the Ichiraku Ramen**

_Quinquereme_

.

It was either pure coincidence, or Shizune had been stalking him.

Kakashi was sitting alone, enjoying a hot bowl of Tonkotsu ramen. It was nighttime, and the windows of Konoha were ablaze with white and yellow light. Chimes tinkled faintly as Teuchi hummed something to himself, wiping bowls behind the bar counter. His daughter, Ayame, was nowhere to be seen.

The hour was late, and the copy ninja was Ichiraku Ramen's last customer. At least, until she arrived.

"Evening, Teuchi-san. One order of the usual, please." Voice fraught with tiredness, Shizune settled down two seats away from Kakashi. She looked particularly beaten down today, sighing and massaging her temples.

He quickly slurped up the last of his meal and replaced his mask.

"One extra-large tonkotsu coming right up," chirped Teuchi, putting the broth to a boil. The exact same dish his last customer had ordered.

Kakashi turned around in his stool, leaning back against the counter. He let a few moments pass, listening to the crickets and the chimes play an idle evening symphony. Somewhere along the road, a firefly flickered in the darkness. He ran a hand through his hair, and felt himself speak.

"It's a bit late for ramen, don't you think?"

A pause. "Yes, well,"

She didn't turn to face him, elbows resting lightly on the counter, hands cradling her head. "You know how it goes."

He smirked, reaching for his cup of water. "By 'it' you mean filling in as Hokage?"

Shizune smiled—half a real smile, and half a grimace. "Tsunade-sama has other…non-administrative things to take care of."

Kakashi pulled down his mask, and drank. Silence settled over them, except for the faint '_glug glug'_ as he drained his cup. The hokage's assistant sniffed the air, taking in the tantalizing smell of the still-cooking broth. She turned in her seat as well, facing the deserted road, mind focused on many things at once. It had been a year since Tsunade had accepted Haruno Sakura as her student, and the intensive training sessions left little time for anything else. Paperwork was low on the Godaime's priority list, if it was there at all.

"Your food's here."

Train of thought interrupted, her eyes darted to his.

He'd forgone the head protector, and the mask lay pulled down at his neck. Shizune felt her throat go dry. She'd never seen the entirety of Kakashi's face, and the fact that even his students had tried to sneak a peek at it and failed spoke of highly its improbability. Yet there he was before her, bare-faced. Illuminated by, of all things, the light of the Ichiraku Ramen.

She wasn't sure what to say.

The steaming bowl of noodles waited in front of her.

"A-ah. Thank you."

Kakashi found amusement at how visibly startled she was. He didn't show it of course—the line of his mouth (now exposed for the world to see—with the world consisting of Shizune, mainly) remained impassive. She moved stiffly, reaching for a pair of chopsticks and neatly breaking them in half.

There were sounds of Teuchi moving boxes at the very back of the shop. And then the crickets.

As the medical-nin began eating, Kakashi found himself drawn to the delicate tapering of her fingers, and how gracefully she held the chopsticks aloft. Shizune began working into her meal (still in a disbelieving trance) and the copy ninja thought to bring out _Icha Icha Tactics_ for a casual browse.

When she had finished the noodles, he was still perched on his stool, facing the road.

"Do you always come to Ichiraku this late, Kakashi-san?" Relieved now, that he had put his mask back on. She could function properly without that glorious distraction.

He flipped a page, wondering if Jiraiya had any plans of releasing a third volume. Pervert literature was highly popular these days, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to expand his bibliography.

"No," he said. "Today is special."

He had spent a large part of the late afternoon at Obito's grave. It was his birthday, after all. Kakashi had lit a candle, and had proceeded to lose his way on the road of life once more.

"I see," she replied, as if it were as simple as that. Shizune wiped the corners of her mouth, and put money on the counter, got ready to leave.

Kakashi pocketed _Tactics_, stood as well.

"Where are you off to now?" She reached up to move the bangs out of her face. Those fingers again.

"Home, sleep." He paused. "And you?"

She shrugged. "Back to the office."

"You sleep there?"

"Oh, just for a few minutes. I mean, there's been a horrible backlog of documents that need looking over and immediate response, especially with regards to the other villages—"

"I'll walk you there."

Shizune looked up, unsure of how to respond to that.

"It's dark," offered Kakashi.

"Are you implying I can't defend myself?" The flash of indignation in her voice. _Rank jōnin, protégé of one of the legendary sannin, impeccable chakra control and medical ninjutsu abilities, not to mention she was an expert when it came to the utilization of poison in combat—_

"And it's on my way home," he added.

She considered this for a moment. "Fine."

They started off towards the Hokages's office, walking approximately a foot apart. Kakashi let out a yawn and ran a hand through his hair again. The night air was cool and crisp, and the crickets had gotten louder. After a bit of unreasonably awkward silence, Shizune began recounting the events of the day: how she'd discovered a sheaf of scented stationary from an unnamed admirer of the Godaime's, various A and S-rank missions to be issued the following week, and how Gai had unceremoniously crashed into the office, looking for Tsunade.

Kakashi observed how the moon was full, but the stars were covered by clouds. A few minutes later, they stopped short of the Hokage's office.

Shizune spoke up. "You didn't have your mask on back there." It was not a question.

"I take it off when I eat, you know."

"Why do you always wear that thing, anyway?" She turned towards him, and he could feel her probing gaze on the lower half of his face.

"It's a thing."

"A thing," she repeated.

"Yes." He shoved his hands into his pockets, showing no sign of giving any other explanation. A sliver of moonlight ran down her left eye as she frowned at him. Kakashi nodded to her, and motioned that he was going to leave now.

"A-ah. In that case, thank you." Shizune offered a little bow.

He let himself linger a moment longer, as she walked towards the building, and entered.

Kakashi resumed the stroll towards his apartment, walking languidly. His mind flipped through the events of the day: a grave, a candle, a blue sky. The tiredness in Shizune's voice, the way she held her chopsticks, and the sensation of the cold air against his lips as he beheld her startled face.

"Hmm," said Kakashi, to the crickets.


	2. Toxicology

**Evenings at the Ichiraku Ramen**

_Quinquereme_

.

Sakura watched the little bodies burn.

"And then you take them—all charred now, nice and crisp," with a pair of forceps, six of the miniature corpses were carefully lifted into the air and transferred to a grinding bowl, "And crush crush crush—" The pink-haired chuunin winced as crunching sounds ensued with each twist of the pestle, combined with her senpai's sing-song voice "—until you have fine black powder. The powder's fairly corrosive, and that's exactly what we need in order to formulate a high-grade poison. Adding the purified sea urchin extract produces a thick gas that isn't _too_ harmful; what you really want is the leftover clear liquid." Shizune paused to adjust her lab goggles, and carefully positioned a dropper filled with a yellowish substance over the grinding bowl.

One drop.

Sakura watched it fall in slow motion.

_Fssssh. _

Smoke rose from the bowl, and Shizune waved it away. "Virtually harmless," she reassured her kouhai. "But _this,_" The woman smiled lovingly at her newly-crafted creation, "this little darling will hit the victim's eyes first, slowly burning each nerve in the eyeball before working its way through the rest of the face. Vitals go last, but sometimes the body shuts down even before." Cheerfully now, transferring the liquid to a small bottle. Her eyes gleamed, and there was a distinct pride in her voice. "It makes you want to stop living."

"Mmm," agreed Sakura, face still frozen into a cringe. She shivered inwardly. Punching holes into the ground suddenly seemed a lot more agreeable by comparison. Poisons were useful, but weren't her thing.

The tiny bottle was put on a shelf, after which the jōnin slid her gloves off, rubbing her pale hands.

"I'm glad you were able to come over today, Sakura-chan." The Hokage's assistant pulled her goggles over her head. "Tsunade-sama says you have a lot of potential."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "That's news to me." The slug queen was not the most lenient of teachers.

"Ahahah. You'll get used to it." That sing-song voice again. She turned her back on the younger kuniochi, bringing the lab materials over to the sink. Sakura swung herself up onto the table, eyeing the remaining charred insect-bodies. Her gaze travelled to Shizune's small, slightly-slumped frame.

"You're so busy all the time, Shizune-senpai," The sound of water gushing from the faucet filled the air between them. "Doesn't Tsunade-sama give you any free time?"

The woman frowned. "Free time." From her tone of voice, Sakura could've sworn the concept was alien to her senpai.

"I have the evenings," she turned off the faucet, "and a couple of hours in the early morning, I guess." Shizune turned to face Sakura, a sheepish smile on her face. "Working for Tsunade-sama _and_ having obsessive compulsive tendencies doesn't produce much of this…free time." The pink-haired girl couldn't help but smile.

"Not even to go on a date?"

The Hokage's assistant cringed a little at the word, remembering a semi-drunken conversation with Kurenai lost somewhere within the less-explored folds of time. She shook her head, half at the memory and half as an answer to Sakura's question.

"Well, there are the _friendly_ hospital patients—" she paused to think, "And maybe some of the men Tsunade-sama and I encountered on the road were…passable specimens." Casting a sidelong glance at Sakura, "Between you and me, there aren't that many men to choose from. And it'd only distract me from duties as a medical-nin. And it's too complex; do you know how many people have _died _trying to make love potions?"

A sigh. "It's not a poison, senpai."

"What, love, you mean?"

Sakura nodded.

Shizune turned off the faucet. "Not an ordinary one. A _special _kind of poison, yes." She wiped her hands. "Thankfully, I'm immune to most."

"Most," echoed her student, ominously.

**.ooo.**

The neon orange light generated a low buzzing noise that wasn't entirely unpleasant. He looked up at the sign that cut oddly into the darkness with its electric glow. Why Teuchi'd decided to put it up was beyond him. Tiny moths gathering around the lights, blazing letters proclaiming ICHIRAKU RAMEN.

"To add something to the atmosphere."

The steam of newly-fried spring rolls blew into his face. Teuchi set the plate before him, winked. "On the house."

"Eh?" Kakashi picked up a roll and stuffed it in his mouth. "Whth 'th occathun?" He swallowed.

"I don't know. I feel good tonight. Like there's a song in the air."

The jōnin snorted. "I didn't take you for a romantic, Teuchi-san."

"Me neither, but humor an old man once in a while, will you?"

"If it means free food, I'm all yours."

A short silence followed, save for crunching, chewing sounds. It had just rained, and there was a stark humidity in the air amidst the ever-present crickets. Presently, the sound of a person treading carefully to avoid puddles in the road reached Kakashi's ears. Teuchi chose this moment to disappear into the back of the ramen bar, muttering.

The footsteps got louder, stopped. The neon-lit sign cast its glow on Shizune's stooped figure as she bent down to wring the end of her kimono.

Kakashi watched as she wrung, straightened, and saw him. She nodded.

"Kakashi."

He returned the nod. "Shizune."

The woman took a seat next to him, looked up. "What's with the sign?"

He shrugged. "Teuchi's feeling indulgent." A small smile formed on her lips. "Is he? I think it's nice."

A low rumbling sound ended her sentence. Shizune blushed, instinctively putting a hand to her stomach. Kakashi, smile hidden under the mask, pushed the plate of spring rolls towards her. She bit her lip, and he could practically hear her thinking.

"It's fine, Shizune. He gave me a free plate."

Her eyes widened. "So Teuchi plays favorites now, huh?"

"Like I said, he's feeling indulgent toni—" Another low growl. "Look, just take it."

After another moment of hesitation, she plucked a roll from the plate with her fingers, and delicately bit into it. Teuchi reappeared.

"Shizune-san! The usual?" He turned to Kakashi. "And you, anything other than the rolls?"

"Tonkotsu," they said in unison. The cook noted the brief, controlled emotion in their faces as they glanced at each other after saying the word. Puzzlement, surprise, glee. _Was _it glee?

"Two extra-large tonkotsus, coming right up."

**.ooo.**

"I was with Sakura-chan today."

Standing a foot apart, in the middle of a familiar bridge. He leaned against the rail, eyes watching the pinpricks of light in the sky, wondering why sudden rain showers tended to happen in February. The weather had its own flashes of personality, he supposed.

"Oh?"

"Tsunade-sama lets her take lessons from me on occasion. It's mostly experiments, tingeing weapons with poison, making antidotes. Things like that."

She rubbed her hands together to warm them, feeling the comfortable satisfaction that came with a full stomach and an evening of good conversation. Maybe it was Kakashi sharing the spring rolls, or the green ice cream dessert—one of Teuchi's new creations that he had asked them to sample—or the smell of rain in the air that she loved. Shizune smiled to herself.

"Chemistry, you mean?" And him, with that maddening nonchalance, those mismatched eyes and perpetual mask.

"Yes, in a basic sense. Toxicology."

"Aaah." He stretched his arms. "I knew a guy, once. He was hell bent on making this love potion to finally win the girl of his dreams."

She rolled her eyes. "It probably didn't work. The best you can do is induce a state of frenzied emotional confusion."

He laughed softly. "Now, why would you want to do that?"

"Why indeed." She folded her arms, "It just lands people in the hospital, more often than not."

Somewhere, a nocturnal creature let out a lone cry into the stillness. The air grew cold.

"Besides," Kakashi said, and suddenly Shizune was aware of the one foot gap closing between them, "There are easier ways to do it."

Warm breath, as he spoke, terribly near her. She felt the heat in her own cheeks, let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Yes, I suppose there are."

They stood there for some time, quietly watching the water.

* * *

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement! Honesty and innocence is precisely what I am going for. Let me know if it works! :)


	3. Cucumber Slices

**Evenings at the Ichiraku Ramen**

_Quinquereme_

.

The dust fell lightly on her shoulders, exposed by the shafts of pre-dawn light. He watched as her chest rose and fell in perfect timing with the second hand of the clock in the Hokage's office: inhale, five ticks, exhale. A heavy silence, broken only by his breathing. He was suddenly conscious of his intrusion.

Kakashi looked around and found himself startled by the exquisitely arranged chaos within the room. There were three teapots positioned equidistantly on the floor. Three tall paper stacks lined one side of Tsunade's desk, on which her assistant was currently sleeping. Her hair covered part of her face, her fist still clutching a pen.

He moved silently, taking care not to wake her. He was here to pick up a set of documents as instructed by the Hokage. It was for a mission to Kirigakure; the rest of his team was already assembled at the village gates. An escort mission. They would return in three, maybe four days.

Kakashi found the file, paused to contemplate her sleeping form once more, and in a seizure of—he didn't know what to call it, so he settled for the word _compassion_—took one of her small, pale hands in his own.

**.ooo.**

It was Friday, and they came back as scheduled. Three and a half bodies out of four. Tsunade watched, chest tightening as they bit back their tears, watched the fatigue in their arms and the blankness in their eyes. Tsunade turned away from her window, and motioned angrily to the young woman sitting at her desk. Her voice carried a harsh tone as she issued the order. Round the clock care. Physical, psychological. Whatever it took to restore them completely. Even before she barked out the words, Tsunade knew it couldn't be done. But they were shinobi It was an unfortunate occupational hazard they all had to deal with.

Shizune fled to the hospital, thinking _'three and a half, three and a half,'_ heart beating too hard, too fast, feeling the wind bite at her cheeks as she shuffled towards the entrance and into the hallways, finally hurling her body against the emergency room door and seeing the too-familiar red of newly loosened blood.

**.ooo.**

When everything had been said and done, he was laid on a bed and put in a room, suffering only minor cuts and a few broken ribs. A two day rest at the most, with lots of sleep and rest and food.

She watched him while she slept, and when he woke to stare vacantly at the ceiling, she did the rounds, taking care of the other two. It was uncharacteristic foolishness, she learned later on, that had killed the fourth jōnin. And the culprits unsurprisingly ninja from the Sound. An ambush. The Kirigakure envoy was safe, with three casualties from their own team. The details were lost in the blur of bandages, wails and antiseptic. She gave him a day, knowing he would brood, knowing he would shoulder the guilt and take responsibility for the lost life. What was important was that he was still breathing.

When he opened his eyes later that afternoon, feeling good enough to ask for his battered copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_, she was cutting bite-sized portions of cucumber.

"You," he croaked, probing her face with one eye.

"Me." She stood and moved to his side. "Don't sit up yet. You're almost done, you'll be released later tonight."

"Can I have my _Icha Icha Paradise_, please?" She wrinkled her nose at this, before retrieving it from a nearby side table drawer and dropping it gingerly in his lap.

"Thanks." He picked the book up, but did not open it.

She let a few moments of silence pass between them, and felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude rush through her. She fought back against the wild impulse to throw her arms around him and murmur things and cry. Instead, she asked if he was hungry. He nodded.

"Cucumbers," she said. He watched as she took a piece, wrapped it carefully in nori, and dipped it into a little container of soy sauce. He let her feed him. The closeness of this gesture was disconcerting, and the newness of it stood out like a splash of fresh blood in the snow.

It was when she stood to wash her hands that he closed his eye and spoke quietly, surprising her.

"He didn't see the trap." A pause, and then, "We did."

She marveled at the sudden hollowness of his voice, and at the sadness it brought her. The water cooled her hands, she dried them and walked to the bed where he lay. She waited for him to continue, but he did not. And when the impulse came to take his still-broken body into her arms, she did not fight it.

Gently, Shizune sat beside him and laid her head against his chest, and said the only thing she could think of. "You are here, now."

Her lip trembled, and without warning, the tiniest of sobs escaped. If Kakashi was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead, he closed his eyes and thanked the gods that she existed; that, somehow, there was someone who could at least shed tears for the both of them; for her warmth nestled against his warmth; for the fact that he was here, now.

Neither of them said anything for a very long time. Kakashi drifted off into sleep. When he woke, the throbbing pain in his upper body was gone, it was dark outside, and he was alone in the room. A few minutes later, the door to his room opened, and a nurse carrying a clipboard announced that he could pick up his things in the hospital lobby and leave.

**.ooo.**

This time, she was waiting for him.

The ramen bar still had that unapologetically bright neon-lit sign, and on the counter sat two steaming bowls of the only dish they both ever ordered. Two mugs of hot tea accompanied the bowls. It was a cool, windy night, and Teuchi was humming an old song again. There were no crickets this time, just the tinkling of the windchimes and the sound of the ramen bar owner's voice.

He sat beside her, resuming the familiar routine.

"Shizune."

"Kakashi."

"Is this mine?" He eyed the bowl.

"No one else eats here at this hour." She smiled at him.

"Mmm." He reached for a pair of chopsticks, broke them. "The cucumber and the nori, where'd you learn to prepare them like that?"

"I read it in a book." She drank from her mug of tea. "The character was taking care of an old man. He fed him cucumber slices done like that. And it worked." She tilted her head to one side. "To a degree."

"I see."

They finished the rest of their meal in companionable silence, which was an odd thing, Teuchi observed. Usually, they finished the extra-large bowls and spent the rest of the evening engaged in animated conversation. He wondered what had changed. When the two bowls stood clean and the tea mugs empty, Shizune paid for the food and turned to her companion.

"Walk me home?"

He nodded.

They both stood to leave, and Teuchi collected the bowls, putting them into the sink along with the cups. He watched their figures grew smaller in the distance, bodies fading gradually into the darkness. There were no crickets that night, but there were fireflies.

A foot apart along the dusty roads of the village, as always. He on the left, she on the right. Kakashi was acutely aware of everything around him: the electric lines, the darkened windows, the birds perched on the roof-gutters of the Konoha police station. He didn't look at her, instead focusing on the sounds their footsteps made upon contact with the ground. The sounds stopped after some time, and Shizune fixed him with that probing gaze he had grown accustomed to.

He returned the gaze. "Yes?"

She opened her mouth to reply, thought better of it, and said nothing.

"We're almost at your office, you know." He studied the shadows cast on her face, the soft features and narrow jawline. She was not strikingly, breathtakingly beautiful like how most men considered Tsunade to be. Shizune possessed a subtle loveliness that made him think of wildflowers.

"I want you," she said softly, "to know something." She took a step forward: all that was needed to close the gap between them, reaching out and pulling down his mask, not sparing a moment to think, pressing her mouth against his. If Kakashi was startled, he didn't show it, choosing instead to pull her closer and keep her there, warm against his body.

When they pulled apart a few moments later, he took her hand, and she perceived a shyness in the gesture.

"Let's go, Shizune."

* * *

_You came to my life_  
_with what you were bringing,_  
_made_  
_of light and bread and shadow I expected you,_  
_and Like this I need you,_  
_Like this I love you._

Pablo Neruda

* * *

A/N:

And that's done. Thank you dear readers and reviewers. Explanation for the quicker-than-usual update: I suddenly woke up and just _knew_ where I wanted the story to go, heheh. Kakashi and Shizune are two people I imagine to be very careful and quiet when it comes to relationships, and I hope I was able to get that across in this story. Chapter three turned out a little different from what I expected, but I hope you guys enjoy this!

Much love, Q.


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